England fans are already running out of superlatives to accurately describe just how good Jude Bellingham is as the young midfielder helped spur the Three Lions on to a massive win against Italy which secured their place at Euro 2024.
Whilst qualification was still likely to happen in either of the next two games, Gareth Southgate’s side were aiming for “payback” after the Euro 2020 final according to Manchester City star Kyle Walker, and that’s exactly what they got.
Despite conceding the first goal, England managed to put three past Azzuri, making it two wins in the last two games against the foes who brought the nation’s previous Euros campaign to such a painful end, and although one goal came from Manchester and another from ever-reliable source, it was the young midfielder who earned the headlines on Tuesday night.
Not only did Bellingham win the penalty for captain Harry Kane‘s equaliser and set up another for Man United’s Marcus Rashford to put England in front, but the Real Madrid star absolutely ran the show from start to finish, sending social media into a frenzy and those in the ground to chant his name throughout.
Another Jude Bellingham masterclass in a string of Jude Bellingham masterclasses🤩
Waxing lyrical about the Birmingham-born attacking mid in a piece the morning after, The Athletic‘s Tim Spiers said that “almost every in the stadium [was] under Jude Bellingham’s command” and praised him not only for his performance but spirit and leadership at such a young age.
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“To be one of the world’s best players is one thing, to be an inspirational leader is another. Bellingham is both”, says Spiers.
“With his magnificent performance here, dragging England into the lead either side of half-time with moments of aggressive ingenuity, but also with his ring-mastering of the audience, it felt like this was the night Bellingham’s relationship with his home public was forged.
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“He spoke to Wembley, with his feet, with his gestures, with his rabble-rousing — and in turn they worshipped him, singing his name, shouting ‘Juuuude’, marvelling at his flicked passes, his sliding tackles, his dominance of the game.” Ridiculously high praise but not wrong; virtually everyone agrees that despite being just his 27th cap for England, he might just be our best player right now.
A standing ovation for Jude Bellingham at Wembley.
Won the equalising penalty and showed tremendous vision, touch and drive to set up Rashford's goal.
11 goals and 5 assists for Real and England this season. No better player in the world right now.🏴🌟 pic.twitter.com/Osy11VIXs1
On just his fifth start at Wembley, Bellingham is already being compared to the likes of Paul Gascoigne, Wayne Rooney, Steven Gerrard; Iniesta, Xavi, Zidane and more all in the same breath, and it’s starting to look as if England are ever going to win a trophy, this young man will play a very big part in it.
Having just joined the Spanish giants this season from Borussia Dortmund, where he was already making his incredible talent abundantly clear, he has already taken his game to a new level and become their main man, insisting that his arrival has “100% improved” him as a player.
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Bellingham was still a teenager barely five minutes ago, has already become a ‘galactico’ at one of the biggest teams in the world, is now the name fans want to see on an England teamsheet and might just be one of if not the best player on the planet right now. Big words, we know — but have you seen him?
You can see the full highlights of the Three Lions’ Euros qualification-securing win over Italy and Bellingham’s unreal performance down below:
Manchester City reveal trailer for upcoming Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary
Danny Jones
Man City have revealed the first trailer for their new Together: 4-In-A-Row documentary, charting the course of their record-breaking four consecutive Premier League titles.
The follow-up to the Together: Treble Winners series, City‘s highly-anticipated documentary dropped earlier this year following their historic 2023/23 season, the movie will follow the same concept and relive the Manchester club’s latest unprecedented feat from 20/21 onwards.
While the previous TV outing was picked up by Netflix, the latest instalment is set to arrive at the end of this month exclusively on CITY+.
You can see the trailer for Together: 4-In-A-Row down below:
The new Man City documentary will feature exclusive interviews with manager extraordinaire, Pep Guardiola, Ballon d’Or winner and Champions League-winning goalscorer Rodri, club captain Kyle Walker and many more.
There will also be footage including soon-to-depart Director of Football, Txiki Begiristain, as well as the City Football Group’s Chief Executive Officer, Ferran Soriano.
Swapping the series format for a feature-length film this time, this is arguably CITY+‘s biggest release to date, with the content subscription service typically offering full match replays, youth academy coverage, as well as smaller documentaries and podcasts.
The streaming service (accessible via the website, Man City app and smart TVs) was only started back in 2024 but now four years later, rather fittingly, it’s set to document the most important years in the club’s history.
We’ve seen multiple Man City docs in recent years – their 2018 All Or Nothing Amazon Prime Video mini-series being the first – but the launch of the Together franchise back in April has helped put City Studios, on the map.
The in-house entertainment arm, first set up in 2022, has even more ambitious plans for the coming years, with a huge deal to create multiple big-budget productions in collaboration with Sony.
Fans are getting even more behind-the-scenes content soon.
Gavin Johnson, Media Director at CFG, said of the trailer reveal: “We’re delighted to announce the release of our latest offering in the ‘Together’ collection.
“Produced once again by our award-winning in-house production and creative hub, City Studios, the documentary film offers our fans a true insight into the team and how they achieved the historic four-in-a-row success.”
Set to be released at 6pm UK time on 20 November, Together: 4-In-A-Row will only be able to watch via the CITY+ platform.
So, if you’re a Blue who wants to relive the last four years of non-stop silverware, you can enjoy a 30-day free trial, after which CITY+ is just £4.99 a month. An annual subscription can be purchased for £34.99 a year or for £30 with an Official Cityzens membership/season ticket.
Man United legend Eric Cantona stuns Manchester artists with surprise visit to GRIT Studios
Danny Jones
Artists working at a Manchester studio were left speechless by a recent surprise visit from none other than Man United legend Eric Cantona.
The former United forward’s love for the city has never waned no matter how many years have gone by and as a lover of all things art, be it music, painting, acting or what he did with a football, he never fails to engage with local culture whenever he’s here.
He may not be based here anymore but the Frenchman – who knows a thing or two about art given his past acting jobs, newfound music career and previous showcases – still pays plenty of visits to 0161, including a recent unannounced one.
Cantona was back in the city centre this week to pay GRIT Studios resident Michael Browne, the artist who he collaborated with to create his National Football Museum exhibition last year, but the one thing Browne didn’t do was let the other people working in their city centre location he was coming.
Credit: GRIT Studios Manchester (supplied)
To be fair, anyone would double-take if they saw Eric Cantona walk into a room, so this was quite a memorable occasion for the unsuspecting artists.
After working on 2023’s From Moss Side to Marseille with Browne, the 58-year-old has been reimmersing himself in the world of Manchester art and there aren’t many places that epitomise that more than GRIT, who are based in Stockport with a second studio at Great Northern Warehouse.
Landing in Manchester from Paris, Cantona arrived in the late morning and ended up staying for over an hour, taking time to meet a number of artists and tour the space with co-founder John Macaulay.
Clearly impressed with their work and genuinely enthused by the sense of community within the local grassroots art scene, it was a special visit for everyone involved.
John, a die-hard Man United fan who has seen the Red Devils play in 25 countries before going on to set up GRIT Studios and much-loved Art Battle MCR with his wife Sophie, said: “It’s full circle for me having watched Eric play all over the world, it’s true honour that he’s flown in to see our talented artists.”
Artists spent time chatting with Eric and talking through their creative processes; those present included mosaic artist, Francis Thorrington, plein air (outdoor) artist, Sketch MCR – a.k.a. Ben Rock – painters Jodie Silverman, Helen Davies and Sophie Macaulay, as well as woodworker Gus Riddell.
Also a fellow United fan, Francis said he simply “couldn’t stop smiling the whole time” after Cantona described his work as wonderful.
Eric looked at home when he picked up and started strumming Chris Pollin’s hand-made guitars, which are handcrafted from driftwood and take hundreds of hours of work.
The enigmatic sports personality turned pop philosopher and cultural figure clearly enjoyed the visit. His final message was that it was refreshing to see a place where “art was for everyone” not just the elite.
As for Browne, he is sworn to secrecy on his next project but let’s just say you can expect some big announcements in the coming weeks. As for GRIT, you can visit one of their open days this Saturday, 16 November and make sure to check out their Stockport studio if you’re in the area.
Danny Jones -
18th October 2023 
